


happy absent father day

by frozensight



Category: Nova (Comics), Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 14:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4183302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozensight/pseuds/frozensight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For some, Father's Day is full of celebrating your dad and everything he's done for you.</p>
<p>For Sam Alexander, it means remembering he's not even there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	happy absent father day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goddammitamy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddammitamy/gifts).



> So, uh, Amy mentioned vaguely wanting to write a Father's Day companion piece to her Mother's Day one she wrote last year, but that she didn't _actually_ feel like it. Therefore I valiantly volunteered and wrote this. It's not connected to hers in any way (which can be found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1604873) btw), but I had fun writing it whilst going about my own Father's Day stuff. (Inside Out. Go see it.)
> 
> Basic head's up: Sam's backstory here is a hybrid of Nova v5 and what little has been presented in the cartoon so far. (Unless more has been talked about in s3 and I've missed it because I haven't watched all of it yet, in which case tell me and I will be on that _so fast_.)
> 
> Not ship-centered, but it's kinda hard not to realize I wrote this with eventual spideynova in mind.

Sam wakes up that Sunday not thinking it’s supposed to be anything other than a normal Sunday. School is out for the summer, so that means training with the team has become a daily part of their routines, even on the weekends.

Therefore, Sam’s confused when he gets to the training room that morning and no one’s there.

“Where is everyone?” he asks Danny, who he finds meditating in his personal quarters.

“With their families, I imagine,” replies Danny, not even opening his eyes to confirm who burst into his room unannounced.

It bothers Sam that he feels like he should know why everyone has randomly decided to be with their families that day, but he’ll be the first to say he’s never been that great with dates. “Why?”

Danny cracks one eye open and examines Sam for a moment before closing it again. “Because it’s Father’s Day.”

Sam wrinkles his nose out of reflex. “Oh.”

“Indeed.”

Silence stretches between them for a few seconds until Sam breaks it, “So why are you here and not with your family?”

He doesn’t immediately respond, nor does the tone of his voice change when he does, but the way Danny tenses up slightly says all Sam needs to know. “Probably for the same reason you didn’t even know what today was.”

“Your dad disappeared years ago, never to be seen again too?”

“Physically? No, but he might as well have for all that I hear from him.”

Sam nods because there’s nothing to say to that. “What are your plans for today then?”

“Meditate, mostly. You’re welcome to join me if you want.”

His nose wrinkles again, and though Danny’s eyes are closed, he seems to sense this because he smiles. “I’m good, thanks. I’ll just…find something to do.”

“I shall remain here in case you change your mind, Sam.”

“Er, thanks.” He turns around and leaves, unsure what he’s going to do, but certain that he does _not_ want to spend his surprise free day meditating.

Finding Luke is definitely out. The guy has his parents and years of lost time to make up for, so intruding on that would only serve to make Sam feel like a jerk. Ava is right out. She’d probably want to work on _summer school work_ , but also because Sam remembers Peter hinting at the fact that something happened to her dad—something that involved Kraven the Hunter and an unhappy ending. That leaves Peter himself, who as far as Sam knows, didn’t actually ever know his father, but did have a sort of surrogate one in the form of his uncle Ben. Which means, Sam adds mentally, that he and Aunt May are probably out visiting his grave or something else equally personal and family orientated, and for all that Sam loves to insert himself in Peter’s life at home, that seems a bit intrusive, even for him.

Briefly he considers trying to send a message to Star-Lord or Rocket or hell, even _Gamora_ , because if he’s going to think of anyone as his father figure, it’d be one—if not all—of the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, he’s not sure how any of them would respond to a random message like that, and they’ve always sort of had a ‘less is more’ mentality when it comes to emotions.

With his whole day before him, Sam has trouble thinking of what to do with it because he’s so preoccupied by the fact all his friends (minus Danny) are with their families—because Mary-Jane and Harry are without a doubt with their families too, or at the very least with Peter and Aunt May. A little reluctantly, he wonders how his mom and sister are doing. He’s been meaning to call and check in for a while, let them know that he’s doing decent in school—definitely a _lot_ better now that he’s at a school where the principal understands if he disappears in the middle of the school day—and that’s when Sam decides.

He’s already got his helmet on and is flying towards Arizona before it even crosses his mind that maybe he should’ve told someone where he’s going. Sam shrugs because whatever, it’s only a day trip, and if anything he can text someone when he lands. If he remembers, that is.

\------

The first thing his mother does when he lands outside their house is chew him out for not calling ahead and not calling for weeks. The second thing she does is pull him into a tight hug and kiss the top of his head. Grinning into her shoulder, Sam can’t help but think repeatedly: _I’ve missed this_.

“Sam!” exclaims Kaelynn when they walk inside and Sam easily picks her up and swings her around, making her giggle, before hugging her too.

“When did you get so big?” he asks, setting her down and resting a hand on the top of her head. She’s eight now, and her head almost comes up to his shoulders.

“I think the better question is when did you get so short?” Her fighting words are appropriately met with tickling, and Sam’s distantly aware that their mom is watching them, fond smile on her face, as she goes about making some food.

Eventually Sam and Kaelynn settle in on the couch, side by side, watching some cartoon that Kaelynn put on, when his mom asks, “As much as I love seeing you, baby, I can’t help but wonder what brought you here.”

“Well, we had the day off seeing as it’s Father’s Day, and since everyone else was taking the time to be with their families, I didn’t see why I should be any different.”

She falls silent, and Sam hates himself a little for even bringing up his father. He knows how hard it’s been on his mother, working two, sometimes three, jobs just to pay the bills ever since he vanished without a trace—leaving only his space helmet behind. Sam gets a small salary from S.H.I.E.L.D., 90% of which is automatically sent back home to his mother and sister to help out.

“Too bad Daddy isn’t home yet,” says Kaelynn, easily interrupting the silence, and Sam tries not to sigh at his little sister. Ever since their dad left, she’s been saying things like that, and it hurts, both because he and their mom _know_ he’s not coming back yet she’s so certain that he will, neither of them have the heart to tell her otherwise.

“Lunch is ready!” calls his mom from the kitchen, and Sam takes in a deep breath and his mouth waters at the smell of genuine homemade enchiladas.

\------

“Do you really have to go tonight?” asks his mom as the three of them stand outside, the sun setting behind the house.

“Tomorrow’s not a holiday, Mom, which means business as usual. Besides, I promise to call more.”

She rolls her eyes as she messes up his hair. “That’s what you’ve said the last _three times_ you’ve visited. I’ll try not to take it to heart when you forget again.”

He laughs, but he makes a second internal promise to actually keep his first one. His mother’s being a good sport about the whole ‘living in New York City and being a superhero’ thing, so surely he can find the time to call her more to put her mind at ease. “I’ll text you when I get back, at least.”

“You better.” Her hands on his shoulders, she holds him in front of her for a moment before bringing him in for another hug. This time she kisses the side of his head and whispers softly, “He’d be so proud of you if he was here to see you.” She pushes away, her broad smile contrasting with the tears threatening to roll down her face. “ _I’m_ proud of you.”

Sam doesn’t have a response for that, too taken aback at his mother’s words. All he manages to say is, “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, baby. Be safe. Don’t hit any planes or anything else you might encounter while flying.”

He grins at her as he puts on the helmet, his suit forming over him instantly, before he kneels down in front of Kaelynn, who’s pouting at their mother’s side. “I’ll see you soon, okay, kid?”

“You better not miss my birthday this year,” is all she says, her arms crossed as she refuses to meet Sam’s eyes.

“I wouldn’t dream of missing it, Kae. Heck, maybe I can even get Mom to bring both of you to New York to celebrate, and I’ll show you both around.” He glances at his mother, and she huffs at the suggestion, which probably means she’s wishing he hadn’t placed the idea in Kaelynn’s head. He’ll fight her about the trip though because he knows how much she deserves a vacation, and Kaelynn’s birthday will be just before summer break is over—the perfect time for a last minute trip.

“Do you promise?” Kaelynn’s voice is small, as if she doesn’t dare believe him until he swears.

“Promise.” His smile is wide as he puts a gloved hand on Kaelynn’s shoulder. “I’ll even get Director Fury to get you two a ride if I have to; he owes me one by now, I’m sure.”

“Yay! See you then, Sam!”

Kaelynn’s waving goodbye frantically, her pout replaced by a gigantic grin, and his mom stands next to her, waving more reservedly as she watches her only son fly away towards the other side of the country.

\------

“Where have _you_ been?” is definitely not the first thing Sam wants to hear upon landing back on the tricarrier after spending the past couple hours flying from Arizona.

Despite that, he doesn’t mean to turn around and snap at Peter. “Out. What does it matter to _you_?”

Peter blinks, and Sam realizes he’s not wearing his mask at the moment. He almost immediately apologizes, but Peter shrugs. “I was just wondering, dude. Danny said earlier that you didn’t seem to have any plans for today, so I was going to ask you if you wanted to come over and play video games. But, I couldn’t find you anywhere, so I asked Aunt May instead, which was no fun because she wins every time.”

Sam takes off his helmet, eying Peter as his suit dissipates. “I figured you’d want to spend time alone with Aunt May today.”

“Huh?” Honestly, Sam isn’t sure how Peter manages to be their de facto leader when he’s a complete space cadet sometimes. “Oh! Father’s day, right, well Aunt May and I visited Uncle Ben’s grave last week to replace the flowers, so we watched one of his favorite movies and toasted him with glasses of eggnog instead.” Sam raises his eyebrow at that, and Peter laughs. “It was his favorite, and also a pain in the _ass_ to find out of season.”

Despite never having met the man, that falls in line with what Sam knows about Uncle Ben, and he can’t help smiling at the idea of Peter and Aunt May trying to find eggnog in the middle of June.

“So where did you go, bucket-head?”

“Home.” Peter’s eyebrows furrow, and Sam realizes that for all he talks about space all the time, he never really talks about where he’s _actually_ from. “My home here on Earth—Carefree, Arizona.”

Eyes widening, Peter gapes at him. “You went to _Arizona_ and back?”

Sam shrugs. “It’s not that hard to accomplish a day trip across the country when you can fly into space and save time.”

That makes Peter laugh, and for some reason, Sam can feel himself relaxing—he hadn’t even realized he’d been tensed. “That’s true. How’s your family then? Did you wish your dad happy father’s day?”

Right. With great omissions of backstory comes great awkward questions.

“Uh, no, not exactly.” The smile falls off Peter’s face slightly, and for some reason that makes Sam feel awful—like he’s ruined Peter’s day in one fell swoop. “He’s out of town at the moment.” He neglects to tack on ‘probably permanently’ to that statement, but otherwise it’s not _technically_ incorrect.

“Ah, gotcha.” Peter makes to walk away, but pauses to ask, “Wait, do you have any siblings I don’t know about?”

This time it’s Sam who blinks in confusion. “I have a little sister. She turns nine in a couple months; her name is Kaelynn.” He refrains from asking _why_ Peter cares to know this tidbit about him; they’re clearly having a ‘moment.’

“Kaelynn, huh? What does she think about her big brother being a superhero?”

“Awesome, mostly, but she does like to send me _Daily Bugle_ articles about this idiot called Spider-Man and ask if I could maybe arrange for her to meet him.”

“Hah, well, if she’s ever in NYC, tell her I’d be glad to meet my biggest fan.” Peter does walk away this time, waving over his shoulder at Sam. “Glad you had a good day, Buckets. I’ll see you tomorrow bright and obscenely early to beat you up during team training!”

“Not if I beat you up first, Webs!” Sam calls out as Peter jumps off the tricarrier, mask back on and ready for his usual web-slinging journey back to his house in Queens.

Sam stands out there for a bit longer than he intends, helmet in his hands as he watches the point where Peter disappeared from, pondering on why they’d just had that particular bonding moment and why Sam had felt compelled to offer up half-truths about his father, when he’d thought he’d come to terms with that months ago.

Eventually he shakes off the trance and heads back inside. He needs to grab a snack from the mess hall before going to bed—flying to and from Arizona in one day takes a hell of a lot out of a guy.

\------

The next afternoon, Kaelynn receives an email with a photo attached of Sam, grinning widely in his Nova outfit, sitting on Spider-Man’s back, triumphant from their mock battle. The caption reads: ‘Still think Spider-dork is the best, now?’

Kaelynn’s response is to email back a picture of Sam playing princess superhero tea time with her, from a time before he was Nova. He laughs, and is only slightly annoyed when Luke steals his phone to see what’s so funny. It’s even still kind of okay when the phone gets passed to Peter, who cackles and then adds, “I like her more than you already. Tell her I’m also her number one fan.”

Sam rolls his eyes. “You have my phone, you tell her yourself.”

He doesn’t expect him to do it, but Peter _beams_ at him and after a chipper, “Okay!” immediately starts typing away on Sam’s phone, pausing only to take a picture of Sam, who’s standing opposite him with his arms crossed.

When he gets his phone back, it’s to another reply from Kaelynn that says: ‘You’re the best Spider-Man! Please take care of my brother for me! He’s an idiot, but he’s our idiot.’

As Sam surveys the rest of the team laughing and joking around him as they make their way to the locker room, it’s hard not to lock eyes with Peter, who’s already taken off his mask, hair matted down in what Luke and Ava have termed ‘web-hair.’ Peter grins at him, and Sam grins back reflexively.

Sometimes it’s nice to know someone has his back—even if those people are the same group of assholes who text each other the picture of him wearing a tiara and a cliché superhero cape so they can set it as his contact photo in their phones.

It shocks him when he realizes he can’t wait until the day he does get to introduce Kaelynn to his team, followed shortly by the realization of how much he _wants_ them to meet.

His mom would probably tell him he’s growing up—wanting to share the people in his life with each other and everything. Sam just thinks it’s kinda great that even though his father is MIA, he’s still got lots of people to share his life with.

\------

Whenever Sam stares up at the stars in the night sky, he usually ends up thinking about one of three things: one, what are the Guardians up to?; two, what’s been happening out there that Sam’s been missing while on Earth?; or three, where did his father go?

Most nights it’s one or two, sometimes both. Three doesn’t typically cross his mind unless he’s been reminded about his father—who had been a decent enough dad when around pre-disappearing act—and he’s certainly been reminded of his father this week.

The list of things he would ask him if ever given the chance is long, but at the top, bolded and underlined several times, is just the word ‘why?’ It used to keep him up, this possibly forever unanswered question, but as he’s grown a bit older, Sam’s gotten used to not knowing. Maybe, he reasons, it’s even better not knowing because he’s not sure what’d he do if he found out his father had left because he hadn’t wanted their family anymore. Not knowing means Sam can ignore it, or imagine fanciful excuses for winner of the Absent Father of the Year Award. Knowing means Sam has to face the facts, and though he’s already a superhero, he’s still a teenager.

Surely the cold, hard truth can at least wait until he’s graduated high school.

That’s assuming, the more optimistic side of him chimes, that the truth is cold or hard at all.


End file.
